Diaper cleansing water closet



Jan. 30, 1962 J'.L. sNEAD 3,018,488l

DIAPER CLEANSING WATER CLOSET Filed Dec. 51, 1959 a di INVENTOR I Juize Szzeqc Y /Qvkrbl/ ff ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,018,488 DIAPER CLEANSING WATER CLOSET June Liles Snead, Box 891, Rockingham, N.C. Filed Dec. 31, 1959, Ser. No. 863,351

` 3 Claims. (Cl. 4-1) This invention relates to the art of living, including the care of the young of the human species, and to equipment and accessories employed for comfort and convenience in the home, and to the making lighter or less laborious the routine duties of the mother or homemaker,

The invention relates particularly to sanitation and the laundering of apparel, including diapers or the like, the laundering of some of which articles is done separately and by hand since no satisfactory mechanical means has been provided for accomplishing such purpose which can be used in the home.

It has been necessary to launder extremely dirty articles of apparel separately, for reasons of sanitation and health, 1t being customary to deposit such articles in special containers apart from other apparel until subsequently they could be washed by hand with the distaste for the task causing delay and neglect and which has given rise to certain diaper service in urban communities but not readily available to homemakers or mothers in many localities and making it necessary that they launder by hand.

It is another object of the invention to solve the problem indicated, and to provide means whereby a diaper or other article of apparel can be given a preliminary cleansing to overcome the undesirable part of the laundering operation or in order to simplify subsequent laundering and to reduce the expense and effort involved.

Another object of the invention is to provide in connection with a water closet means for performing a preliminary washing of opposite sides of a diaper or other article of apparel, and for flushing away solid matter removed from such diaper or article of apparel.

Another object of the invention is to provide a water closet bowl and a tank with dual compartments discharging thereinto with one subject to means for controlling a predetermined quantity of water to be discharged from time to time when desired, and the other having a couple of parallel pipes with opposed spray orifices and means for supporting an article of apparel in the line of discharge of said orifices, so that the water will be projected onto opposite sides of the article simultaneously to give necessary agitation and cleansing effect, with manual control means for the latter.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustrating the water closet with the invention applied thereto;

FIG. 2, a vertical section through the tank portion of the water closet;

FIG. 3, a horizontal section on line 3 3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4, a fragmentary view illustrating the use of the device; and

FIG. 5, an enlarged perspective of the diaper-holding clip.

Briefly stated, the invention is a combination water closet including a ush tank and a bowl, and an article washer in which the latter as well as the flush tank discharge into the bowl of the water closet, and supporting means within the washer for releasably holding articles to be sprayed with water as well as control means with exposed manipulating portions, one for flushing the bowl, and an additional one for controlling the spraying of water onto the articles to be washed or cleaned.

With continued reference to the drawings, to supply water to a water closet bowl 10, a tank 11 is provided which replaces the conventional tank, and the tank 11 is Patented Jan.. 3o, 1962 provided with dual compartments 12 and 13. Compartment 12 is adapted to hold a body of water supplied to the tank through an inlet pipe 14 and controlled by a conventional float valve and lloat 15. Compartment 13 is designed to receive water from the pipe 14 through a pipe 16 which extends through an intermediate wall 17, such pipe terminating in a header or cross member 18 connected to parallel spray tubes 19 having a plurality of spray orifices 20. The spraying tubes 19 are mounted on the opposite sides of the compartment 13 by clamps 21, the sprays being directed toward each other in order to cause the water discharged through such orifices to impinge on opposite sides or surfaces of an article held by clamps 22. Each of such clamps has lower and upper jaws 23 and 24 connected by a hinge pin 25 and urged toward each other by means of a spring 26, the lower jaws being mounted on a bar 27 which extends centrally across the length of the tank and each end of the bar is provided with a screw-threaded opening 28 in which a bolt 29 is received. The tank is provided with openings 30 through which the bolts are inserted.

In order more rmly to grasp the article to be cleaned the lower jaws 23 of the clamps are connected by a cross bar 23 and the upper jaws 24 are connected by a cross bar 24 so that the pressure of the springs 26 will force the cross bars 23 and 24 into intimate engagement across substantially the entire width of the tank.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that water admitted through the pipe 14 from a source of supply will ow into the compartment 12 subject to the float valve 15, and such water at all times will flow through the pipe 16 and header 18 to the spray pipes 19 and orifices 20, subject to a suitable control such as a valve 31. The operating knob 32 of the valve 31 is disposed on the end of the tank and may be operated independently of the operating knob 36 which controls the water in the compartment 12. The bowl 10 is provided with passages 33 and 34, which communicate with the interior of the bowl through a common passage 35, the remote terminals of such passages 33 and 34 being in connection with the compartments 12 and 13 respectively, thus the flushing of the bowl can be accomplished by releasing the water from the compartment 12 by operating the handle 36 with the rod 37 and the crank arm 38 attached to the valve stem 39, or if desired for operating the valve handle 32 water can be discharged through the spray orifices 20 upon a garment 40 suspended between the jaws 23 and 24 of the clamps.

Thus a simple, inexpensive and practical structure is provided for accomplishing mechanically a sometimes distasteful task in a relatively simple manner in a minimum of time with substantially no effort and thereby contributing to the sanitation and consequently the welfare of the family.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is illustrated in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claims,

What is claimed is:

l. In a water closet the combination of a bowl and a two-compartment tank with a discharge from each come partment of said tank into the bowl, a water supply into each of said compartments, the admission and discharge of water into one compartment and from said compartment into the bowl being controlled, spray means connected with the supply of water to the other compartment, said spray means including at least two spaced sprays directed generally toward each other, means for supporting said sprays in said compartment, and releasable holding means between said sprays for suspending articles therebetween.

2. In a water closet the combination of a bowl and a two-compartment tank, each compartment having a discharge into the bowl, one of said compartments having a float operated valve in a water supply line for maintaining a predetermined quantity of water in said compartment, and means for controlling the discharge from said cornpartment to flush the bowl, the other of said compartments having a water supply line connected to spray means within the compartment, said spray means cornprising at least two spaced spray structures directed generally toward each other and attached to the walls ofsaid `other compartment, and releasable holding means between said spray structures for suspending an article therebetween.

3. An article clamping device comprising a rst elongated bar having means for attachment to supporting structure, a second elongated bar, means to mount said second elongated bar for generally parallel movement relative to said rst elongated bar, means urging said elongated bars toward each other to grippingly engage articles therebetween, and at least two handles spaced from each other, and attached to said second elongated bar for moving said second elongated bar away from said first elongated bar.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,236,902 Bowen et al. Aug. 14, 1917 1,808,294 Crane June 2, 1931 2,327,733 Moore Aug. 23, 1943 2,460,217 Deerfield Jan. 25, 1949 2,697,341 Thomas Dec. 21, 1954 2,805,425 Musacchia Sept. 10, 1957 

